CCTVs on e-way run into monsoon hurdle

Soon after the accident on Mumbai-Pune Expressway in December that claimed lives of two Marathi actors and a child, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) had announced installation of around 100 CCTV cameras on the 95-km stretch of Mumbai-Pune Expressway the same month to keep and eye on speeding incidents. But there are chances that the project would be scrapped.

Motorists stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway during monsoon. File pic

According to some senior MSRDC officials, the cameras will not be useful during monsoons on the Expressway. Also, they say maintaining them will be difficult. A leading telecom company had agreed to install CCTV cameras free of cost on the entire stretch in return for advertisement space on the poles.

The company had given two presentations to MSRDC in two months but the development body’s officials were not satisfied. They asked the company to give a live demo to see the effectiveness of the camera. Speaking to MiD DAY, a senior MSRDC official said, “There are few officials who are of the opinion that CCTV cameras won’t be that effective during rainy season on the expressway.”

What next? “We are thinking of a radar-based technology that can keep a tab on motorists using the Expressway. Two weeks ago, a presentation regarding the same was also given to us by a Pune-based firm and we are positive regarding this technology,” claimed a senior official.

Apart from going hi-tech, MSRDC has also decided to construct a truck terminus on the expressway, where tired and sleepy drivers can rest. MSRDC has also decided to speed up the work of setting up a trauma centre with an air ambulance facility on the expressway.

More signboards mentioning speed limits and marking out accident-prone areas will be installed. Apart from this, the MSRDC has already started installing safety brifen wire ropes on the expressway along the median to reduce the impact in case of collisions.